Highlighting the controversial role of both IL-10 and IL-17 in tumor metastasis (Yu et al., 2024; Zhang et al., 2024); in the CRC context, it has been reported that secretion of CTSK stimulated by the gut microbiota, in turn promotes IL10 and IL17 release from M2 TAMs, promoting CRC invasion and metastasis through NF-κB pathway (Li et al., 2019). The gene discussed is CTSK; the disease is colorectal carcinoma.